I live in Playa Hermosa, Guanacaste. One of the
main supermarkets where Fran and I do our grocery shopping is a market
called Super Luperon. They are a great store, clean, good
selection and most importantly, reasonable prices.

But what I don't like about Super Luperon is the risk one
takes when using a debit or credit card to pay for groceries.

Here is what happens:

When all the groceries have been entered into the
cash register I give the cashier my debit card

My account number is then entered into the keypad on
the register. SEE FIGURE #1. This number can be seen by
anybody with 20/20 vision standing 10-15 feet away.

After the account number is entered, the cashier
swipes my card into a card reader and enters some additional codes.
Fortunately, the codes are only readable on the card swipe.
SEE FIGURE #3.

While the additional codes are entered, debit card
number remains on the screen, visible to any passerby to view or
photograph.

By the way, to get these pictures, a friend of mine
casually walked up next to me and snapped away (using my cell phone)
and then walked away. Nobody said a word.

That's all it takes to steal one's identity at
Super Luperon. Click on pictures to enlarge.

FIGURE 1

FIGURE 2

FIGURE 3

I write this story not to denigrate Super Luperon but to
point out a serious flaw in their cash tendering process. We as
consumers should be super diligent in how we transact business,
especially electronically.

I have written to Super Luperon and made them aware of
this particular issue. I sincerely hope they take this matter to
heart and correct the problem. I really like shopping there but
from here on out I am more likely to forego the convenience of my "tarjeta
del plastico" and use cash (efectivo) instead.

*** UPDATE ***

Within four hours of sending an email to
Luperon Headquarters, I received an email response from
Kristian Faerron Barrera, Gerente General.

The best I was able to discern from their
response is that they thanked me for my comments and they
had requested an engineer to see if they can remove the card
number from the screen. When they hear back from the
engineer they will get back with me.